Disclaimer: Dear Muggles, I solemnly swear I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 1

Bellatrix Black had been at Hogwarts less than a month and already she was bored. The classes were easy, the textbooks juvenile and the entirety of her fellow students (even the Slytherins) were hopelessly talentless. There was nobody here that was her equal.

Most night she stayed behind in the common room all by herself, thinking of her father and her sister, her old home, her old life. In a way she missed its comforts; Hogwarts was lonesome. On this particular night it was already half past 2 in the morning but she wasn't tired. She was surrounded by her spell books, her eyes glancing over the most advanced sections. It was then that she heard a boy's voice coming down the staircase.

Out of a secretive instinct she pushed her chair back into the corner so as not to be seen. There were multiple voices now, all male, followed by muffled footsteps leading down to the common room.

"We've waited for two weeks! That should be more than enough," said a gruff voice as the several figures descended into view. They crossed the room without noticing her but paused by the fire almost directly in front of where she hid.

As the low light hit their faces she recognized the speaker as Rabastan Lestrange, a fourth year student. He was tall and a little hunchback, with terrible posture and sharp teeth. She had seen him and the rest family on the newspaper often, his father was currently on trial for something.

"Bloody house elves can't do anything right!" said another voice as he grimaced at the dying fire. Although Bellatrix would never have guessed it the speaker was Luscious Malfoy. His blonde hair was unmistakable. However she had never heard him sound so superior, in fact in class he rarely talked at all.

In total there were six boys, most of them appeared to be younger than Rabastan, who was clearly the tallest. As they continued talking in quieter tones she realized that all of them were purebloods, not only that they came from families as old and prestigious as her own. That was rare, even in Slytherin since most of their classmates were lowly half-bloods.

"Are you saying your scared Crabbe? I'm going, I'm not going to stand around all night like a prissy girl." That was Malfoy again. She though he sounded very sure of himself, which was odd because he was the youngest and smallest among them. The boy he spoke to was the elder of the Crabbe brothers. He was probably around 13 or 14, and very large. She narrowed her eyes, what was Malfoy playing at?

"I'm just saying I don't think it's a good idea to go tonight!" started Vincent Crabbe adamantly. "McGonagall is on watch and she already has Rabastan and I blacklisted."

"You're afraid of that old hag?" Malfoy scuffed.

There was a audible creek from upstairs and another boy hushed their argument with a raised wand. This one she was fairly certain was Rodolphus Lestrange, Rabastan's younger brother. He was far more handsome though and didn't seen to have any back problems, instead he had neat hair and glasses.

"It's really simple - " he said in a low whisper. "We are going Crabbe, if you don't want to go then be on your way, but doing so would mean you renounce the Purists."

Purists. Bellatrix leaned slightly towards them, she didn't want to miss anythings. Was this some sort of organization? A gang of purebloods? A secret society?

Crabbe was turning every shade of red, he clearly didn't like being spoken to like that by younger students. Finally he shrugged. "I'll go, but if McGonagall catches us-"

"Then our Father will pay a hefty sum to the school and we'll be made Prefects," said Malfoy, swiftly turning on his heels and obliging the other boys to follow. They were out of the common room a few seconds later.

In the darkness she rose from her seat. Maybe she had judged Hogwarts too quickly after all.

Every night for the following weeks Bellatrix stayed in the common room till early in the morning hoping to see the "Purists" again. And during the days she dedicated herself to watching them. Malfoy was the easiest to observe, as he was the only one in her year.

In class he was quiet and inattentive. He didn't socialize and often looked bored. In fact Bellatrix wondered why she had never noticed him before. He was very handsome. His hair was blonde and down to his shoulder, his eyes the lightest possible shade of blue, almost as if they had been drained of all color.

After classes, and during meals he hung out exclusively with the other "purists". Now she was sure of all their names and identities. There was Rabastan and Rodolphus Lestrange, Vincent and Louise Crabbe, Ulric Goyle and Malfoy. She also noticed that the other Slytherins seemed to keep their distance from them, although Bellatrix wasn't sure if this was by choice. Maybe the "Purists" purposefully avoided the other Slytherins for being half-bloods or worse, blood traitors.

With everyday that passed she became more assured her natural place in Hogwarts was was with them, she was a Purist. And as it happened two weeks later she saw those same six boys come down the staircase in the middle of the night again. And this time she took the opportunity for what it was worth and followed them out of the common room.

They walked far, through corridors and staircases that she had never used before. The Castle was quiet and eery, although occasionally they saw the silhouette of teacher or head boy. But the boys seemed to know exactly which routes to take so as not to be apprehended, and didn't stop until they reached one of the Western facing towers. At this point it seemed the Lestrange brothers were arguing about something, she could hear their voices trail down while the others tried to shush them to no avail.

"She deserves it! He deserves it! What right on Earth do they have over us," hissed Rabastan with a scowl.

"I agree with you, they are not worthy but we can't be so careless," said his brother through gritted teeth.

"That's where you're wrong Rodolphus. You see I want him to know that it was me. I want him to hate and fear me and yet be unable to do anything about it. That's what I call a real victory."

There was no response, just more footsteps and suddenly Bellatrix realized where they were heading. She could hear a faint hooting, growing louder, from the top of the tower. It appeared they were going to owlery, though she couldn't think why.

"Stop," from his high voice; she was sure it was Malfoy. She pressed herself hard against the wall. She was only ten feet behind him.

"Well what is it?"

"We've been followed."

Her heart began beating very fast but she told herself to stay calm, there would be no benefit to loosing her head. She needed to manage the situation with all the tact her father had instilled in her.

Now the boys were turning towards her, and finally one of them said: "Lumos."

A/N: All feedback is appreciated.